Up Above the Sea
by ABlueIndividual
Summary: Eric takes Ariel to the top of a cliff, where she realises some great things get even better when you look at them in a different way.


**Up Above the Sea**

"So how long will it take to get up there?" asked Ariel, as she observed the hill ahead of herself and Eric that led up to a cliff.

"I don't think it will take too long," replied Eric, "It's not very steep. It might get a bit tiring though." He actually highly doubted this; Ariel could probably run up and down the hill five times without stopping and still not feel tired out.

Ariel was feeling very excited; Eric had told her the other day that she'd really like the top of this hill, and ever since then she had been very much looking forward to going there with him.

"What exactly is it that I'll like?" questioned Ariel, though she knew she wasn't going to receive an answer; she had tried asking Eric this several times already, to no avail.

"I told you, I'm not saying anything," said Eric, "You'll love it though, I'm sure."

"But Eric..."

"Ariel, the longer we stay down here, the longer you won't know what I want you to see," laughed Eric.

Taking her prince's point into account, Ariel started up the hill, "Come on!" she exclaimed gleefully, not wanting to wait another moment.

Eric started to follow, but as he'd expected, Ariel was already well ahead of him, coasting up the hill as easily as if she were going down instead of up. Having already been tugged around by Ariel through the town and across fields on their way to this hill, Eric's energy didn't quite match Ariel's (this wasn't a rare occurrence), but nonetheless his large steps allowed him to keep up somewhat, and he chuckled to himself as he followed his love.

Ariel quickly made her way up the hill, grinning to herself. Given that she and Eric lived along a coastal area, there were obviously lots of cliffs around - they had been walking along one for the past few minutes in fact - but she had never been to the top of this particular cliff, and she was very eager to find out what it was like up there. She turned around to see Eric, and realised that he was quite a bit behind her. Thankfully, he didn't look like he was struggling or anything, but she still hurried back down to him.

"You're not getting tired, are you?" she teased, although there was some genuine concern in her question.

"No, I'm not," chuckled Eric, "But you're not exactly easy for anyone to keep up with."

Ariel smiled, and took his hand "Well, come on," she laughed as she started pulling him along with her, "I'll help you keep up!"

Eric laughed too as she tugged him up the steep slope. As they neared the top however, Eric was actually quite surprised as he felt Ariel slow down and heard her breathing a bit more heavily.

"Now who's getting tired?" he joked, and Ariel turned to face him again.

"I'm not tired," she insisted, "We're just... nearly at the top, so there's no need to keep going too fast."

"Your deep breaths suggest otherwise," smirked Eric in reply, as Ariel narrowed her eyes. "Oh well," he continued, "you have been pulling me up all this way, I guess I should help you now."

Before Ariel could say anything else, Eric had lifted her up in his arms and started carrying her up the rest of the way. The former mermaid's look of mock annoyance became one of real delight, as she laughed and wrapped her arms around her prince's neck. They soon reached the top of the cliff and Eric placed Ariel down on her feet.

"Here we are, m'lady," Eric said in a faux posh accent as he put her down.

"Thank you for that, my prince," giggled Ariel, "Here's your reward." And she presented him with a kiss.

Once they parted, Ariel looked around to examine where they were. Since it was a cliff, it wasn't the prettiest or most vibrant looking place Eric had ever taken her to, as she'd expected; it was both grassy and rocky, lacking in flowers or other plants, and as Ariel looked toward the edge, she could see cracks in the earth. It was at least quite interesting, she thought, before she looked up away from the ground.

"Eric, look!" she gasped excitedly, her eyes widening as she pulled him closer to the edge. "Eric, look at that _view_!"

Eric smiled at her excitement; seeing her like this was one of the best things in the world to him. "It's great, isn't it?"

"It's brilliant," replied Ariel, and found she had little else to say after that. She could see the lively waves rolling and crashing amongst themselves, and ships and boats roaming the tides. Of course she'd seen them before, but never like this. She had assumed that the view might be the reason why Eric had told her she'd like it here, but she hadn't realised that it would be as amazing as this.

"I've never seen so much of the ocean at once before," she breathed to Eric, as she leaned in to hug him from the side, keeping her eyes on the sea.

Eric wrapped his arm around her. "That's not all," he told her and she looked up at him, "Look over there," he turned his head to face just behind the slope they'd came from.

Ariel followed where he was looking, and another breathtaking sight met her eyes.

"The town!" she exclaimed, "And your palace, Eric!"

" _Our_ palace," Eric reminded her. "Remember it's just as much yours as mine."

Ariel blushed a little and smiled, "Yeah, _our_ palace." It was a force of habit for her to keep referring to the palace as Eric's, but each time he would tell her that it was hers as well, which always ended up warming her heart a little, so ultimately it was a good thing for her that she kept calling it Eric's.

Ariel returned her focus to the view in front of her. She hadn't seen their palace and the town together from one viewpoint before. She then realised she could even see people bustling about and having fun, working hard in the town, and relaxing down at the beach. She'd never seen _them_ in a view like this either.

Eric smiled as Ariel gasped joyously at the sights. She hadn't said much, and normally she would have some sort of question to ask or opinion to put forward, but Eric was contented by the look of pure delight on her face, as he knew that he had made her happy by bringing her here.

Ariel cautiously peered over the edge of the cliff, looking down to see the waves slamming against the rocks below. She backed away a little, not wanting to stand too close to the edge; she may not have been a human for that long, but even as a mermaid she had figured that heights could be dangerous. She then felt Eric's arms wrap around her waist and pull her back a little more, and she leaned back into him, feeling safer again.

"Thank you," she whispered to him, "I love it here."

Eric's smile broadened, "You're welcome," he replied softly, "I'm glad you do."

"It's so beautiful," Ariel commented.

"Not as beautiful as you," pointed out Eric.

Ariel turned to face him, "I knew you were going to say that," she laughed.

"Is that why you said it then?" asked Eric, raising an eyebrow, as he started to sit down, pulling her with him.

Ariel shrugged as she sat next to him. "Maybe," she replied, before moving onto his lap, and giving him a kiss.

They spent a little while there, sitting and lying on the grass, holding each other, and just relaxing together. The sun soon started to set, and Eric got to his feet.

"Come on," he said, taking Ariel's hand and helping her up, "I want to show you it again."

Ariel stood, having no qualms about seeing that gorgeous sight once more, but as soon as she looked towards the edge she saw why Eric had chosen to show her it again: this sunset was like no other she had ever seen. She absolutely loved the sunset enough as it was, but she had never been able to view it in such glory. Golden rays shone from the sun and lit up the sea, and then the land as well. The radiant light spanned across the beach, palace, town, and as far as Ariel could see.

"Oh Eric," she sighed as she pulled him into a hug, "It's so amazing. Thank you so much."

"Any time, Ariel," replied Eric as he wrapped his arms around her in return, "You know I'll take you anywhere at any time you want."

Ariel hugged him even tighter in response and lifted her face from his chest so she could look at him, before pushing herself up on her tiptoes and meeting his lips with hers.

"So was the surprise worth the wait?" asked Eric, once they'd parted.

"Definitely," nodded Ariel, "It's been such a wonderful day, Eric. Thank you so much for bringing me here."

"You're welcome, Ariel," Eric replied, feeling as pleased as ever in just knowing that he'd made his little mermaid happy. "I told you I knew you'd love it."

"Yeah, you were right about that," agreed Ariel, "But I don't love it as much as I love you."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for not posting in so long. Well... okay, I think this has actually been a pretty normal space of time between stories, but considering I originally posted six stories in... what, three weeks? Yeah, it has been a pretty long time going by my initial self-set standards. The reason is honestly because I've had a lot going on related to school over the past few weeks (far more than I anticipated), so any free time I've had I've used to try and relax in. But I felt I ought to try and write something now, as I'm pretty sure I'll have even less of a chance to do so over the coming weeks. So basically, I'm sorry for the sudden drop in stories I, and that I won't match those quantities anytime soon. I'm not running out of ideas or anything, but I don't really have the time right now. That being said, I will try and think up even smaller-scale stories (like "drabbles" or something), and maybe if I can work with them, I'll be able to give you all one of those every once in a while until I have more free time. Who knows, let's think positive.**

 **But enough of that and onto my random story trivia that I like sharing. This was meant to be much simpler, and I wasn't intending to spend too long on, but I massively underestimated it. I kept on feeling like it was too similar to stories from other writers, or that there wasn't enough dialogue, and I kept going back and forth and changing things up. I wanted to write a "happier" sort of story, I guess kind of akin to my first two, as my previous four have hard more dramatic elements to them, so I felt the need to lighten things up a bit.**

 **So, what did you think? Was it good, were there things that could be better? Let me know, I appreciate any and all reviews. Thank you all for reading, see you all next time, bye!**


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